Word Net
yachting n : water travel for pleasure [syn: boating]Moby Thesaurus
boating, canoeing, circumnavigation, coasting, cruising, gunkholing, motorboating, navigability, navigating, navigation, passage-making, periplus, rowing, sailing, sculling, sea travel, seafaring, steaming, travel by water, voyaging, water travelVerb
yachting- present participle of yacht
Noun
Usage notes
- Also used attributively as an adjective in phrases such as yachting circles, or a good yachting area. and so on.
Translations
physical activity involving boats
- Czech: jachting
Yachting is a physical activity involving boats.
It may be racing sailing
boats, cruising
to distant shores, or day-sailing along a coast.
Yachting as a sport
Whilst sailing's invention is prehistoric, racing sailing boats is believed to have started in the Netherlands some time in the 17th century, whence it soon made its way to England where custom-built racing "yachts" began to emerge. In 1851, a challenge to an American yacht racing club in New York led to the beginning of the America's Cup, a regatta won by the New York Yacht Club until 1983, when they finally lost to Australia II. Meanwhile, yacht racing continued to evolve, with the development of recognised classes of racing yachts, from small dinghies up to huge maxi yachts.These days, yacht racing
and dinghy
racing are common participant sports around the developed
world, particularly where favourable wind conditions and access to
reasonably sized bodies of water are available. Most yachting is
conducted in salt water, but smaller craft can be - and are - raced
on lakes and even large rivers.
Whilst there are many different types of racing
vessels, they can generally be separated into the larger yachts,
which are larger and contain facilities for extended voyages, and
smaller harbour racing craft such as dinghies and skiffs.
Dinghy
races are conducted on sheltered water on smaller craft,
usually designed for crews of between one and three people. They
are almost all equipped with one mast. Some have only one
triangular sail, but most have two configured as a sloop, and usually carry a
spinnaker, a large,
bulging sail designed for sailing "with the wind". Most races are
conducted between vessels of identical design ("one design"
racing). In these races, with identical equipment the sailors best
able to make use of the ambient conditions win.
Dinghy designs vary from small, stable, and slow
craft for novice sailors to lightweight, high-speed designs that
are very difficult for even experienced crews to sail safely and
effectively. Australia's 18-foot skiff
class are the fastest monohull dinghies, reaching speeds of up to
40 kilometres per hour even in relatively light winds. Sailing has
a reputation for being a boring spectator sport, but skiff racing
can be very exciting, particularly in unpredictable conditions
where crews struggle to keep their boats upright. Various
multi-hull racing classes are even faster.
Various one-design dinghy classes are raced at
the Summer
Olympic Games.
Larger yachts are also raced on harbours, but the
most prestigious yacht races are point-to-point long distance races
on the open ocean. Bad weather makes such races a considerable test
of equipment and willpower just to finish, and from time to time
boats and sailors are lost at sea. The longest such events are
"round-the-world" races which can take months to complete, but
better-known are events such as the Fastnet race
in the United Kingdom and the
Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race along the east coast of Australia.
As well as a first-past-the-post trophy (called "line honours"),
boats may race under a handicap system that adjusts finishing times
for the relative speeds of the boats' design, theoretically
offering each entrant an equal chance.
Cruising - yachting as a lifestyle
Cruising involves traveling on a boat. It could be a trip to the other side of the bay or across the oceans to the islands of the South Pacific. Safe cruising across long distances requires a degree of self sufficiency and a wide range of skills beyond handling the boat. Knowledge of navigation, meteorology, mechanical and electrical systems, radio, first aid, sea survival, nutrition and more are needed and can be life saving when cruising to distant shores. In the UK a system of certification is run by the Royal Yachting Association which includes a range of courses, both theoretical and practical, covering these areas.See also
yachting in Czech: Jachting
yachting in Polish: Jachting